Firms Vie To Construct Bears Arena

Four high-powered contracting teams are squaring off in the billion dollar competition to build the huge expansion of McCormick Place and domed stadium for the Chicago Bears.

Only two teams, however, are offering to build the dome portion of the project-a pairing that will pit the nation`s two foremost stadium architects in a high-tech design war.

The identities of the four ``design-build`` teams were revealed Tuesday, the deadline for submission of contractors` qualifications to tackle what ranks among the largest public works projects in Illinois history.

``We would have liked more, but four solid teams are good,`` said James R. Reilly, chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, which runs McCormick Place.

If found qualified to enter the next phase of the competition, the teams will have until June 21 to both design the complex and estimate how much it will cost. The winner must be prepared to build it for that price or forfeit a $10 million deposit.

McPier officials, meanwhile, will use the cost estimates in June when they approach the Illinois General Assembly for state funding.

By engaging a small army of influential contractors and consultants beforehand, convention center officials appear to be strengthening the lobby for pushing ahead with the project.

Indeed, three of the four teams boast contractors with considerable political muscle.

The two teams offering to build the entire complex, stadium and all, are: - The Convendium Group, a joint venture led by U.S. Equities Realty Inc., the developer building Chicago`s central library and angling to build a new main post office. U.S. Equities Chairman Robert Wislow has filled out his construction team with Schal Associates, which oversaw the McCormick Place annex; Barton Malow Construction Co., a firm working on Atlanta`s Georgia Dome; and Bechtel Corp., the California-based engineering giant.

For design work Convendium would use the architectural firm of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, one of the nation`s largest. Their Kansas City-based Sports Facilities Group designed the Chicago White Sox stadium.

- Stein & Company Special Facilities Inc., a joint venture led by Stein & Company, whose many downtown projects include the North Loop Transportation Center, the AT&T Corporate Center and the new federal building going up in the South Loop.

Like Wislow, developer Richard Stein is an acknowledged master at negotiating deals with government clients. His construction team features Huber, Hunt & Nichols Inc., the Indianapolis-based firm that built the Hoosier Dome and is working on San Antonio`s AlamoDome. Others include the George Hyman Construction Co. of Washington, D.C.; Chicago`s Walsh Construction Co.; and two local minority-owned firms: Louis Jones Enterprises Inc. and Alex Munoz General Contractors.

Stein`s principal designer is A. Epstein & Sons International, a Chicago- based firm. But for stadium expertise Stein landed Ellerbe Becket Inc., another Kansas City firm. In 1988 Ellerbe Becket created a stadium subsidiary by hiring away architects from the same firm that spawned Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum`s stadium experts. Other design firms on the Stein team are Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates, an Atlanta-based firm also working on the Georgia Dome; and Alfred Benesch Co., a Chicago firm.

Both design teams are fiercely competitive and already have ties to the Bears. Ellerbe Becket helped the Chicago Bears design their never-built football stadium on the West Side. Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum designed the skyboxes on the south rim of Soldier Field.

A third team of Chicago heavyweights wants to build only the new convention hall and a pedestrian galleria that would span Lake Shore Drive, connecting it to the original McCormick Place.

That team is led by Tishman Midwest Management Corp., whose Chicago developments include the Northwestern Atrium Center. Construction would be done by the Gust K. Newberg Construction Co., a public works powerhouse that is co-builder of the new White Sox stadium; and Morrison-Knudsen Co., another major firm. Tishman`s design work would be done by Perkins & Will, an old-line Chicago firm now designing the international terminal at O`Hare International Airport.

A fourth team, led by out-of-staters, wants only to build the pedestrian galleria over Lake Shore Drive. They are led by the Deutsch/Ireland Companies, a Florida-based developer; and Turner Construction Co., a New York-based construction firm. Design work would be provided by Lohan Associates, a Chicago-based architectural and planning firm.

The teams now get three months to design the project and estimate its cost.

But while the draftsmen draft and the estimators estimate, construction executives can be expected to polish their relationships with Gov. James Thompson and Mayor Richard M. Daley, the politicians who control the McCormick board.

It was revealed Tuesday, for instance, that Stein has contributed $20,500 to Richard Phelan`s candidacy for president of the Cook County Board. Phelan`s fundraising is headed by John Schmidt, chairman of the McCormick board and a confidant of the mayor.